User blog:Cerberus24/Fan faction: The little things
My first Fan Fiction, enjoy! This will be a long running project, and will be based on Monster hunter tri. Charecters are based on members of my Clan, Tooth and Claw. Also based on friends in general, please tell me if you dislike your likeness being used. Prologue A great hunter once said look at the little things. From the way a lynian pounces to a monsters fatigue, its always the tiniest details that can change a hunt, for better or for worse. No detail can be overlooked, as nothing is unimportant. There is the obvious, and then the intricate, and intricacies are moments of decision making, and great importance. In other words, intricacies are little things. Vaan sighed and put the book down. He was a hunter, not a scholer. He didnt know why the guild told them to read these books. Hunting can best be learnt through doing, not studying. Any hunter with guts would tell you that. He picked up his great sword and left a tip on the Argosy kitchen counter as he got up from his feast of Goldenfish brew and Blessed wine, feeling a bit light headed but also strangely rejuvanated. He buckled up his Hunters armour and opened the door onto the deck of his transport, shielding his eyes from the light. When Vaan took his hand away, he nearly fell over in his suprise at the view; he could see grassy mountains and a crystal sea ahead of him, the kind of thing you'd see on a Crimson seabream advert. It was perfect. Vaan contemplated how best to traverse the area as he approached the three other hunters on deck. This was the day he first hunted a great jaggi, and these people were his companions. The thick set boy on the left was called Atlas. His muscles bulged under his Bone armour as he clenched and unclenched the handle of his Ludroth bone maul hammer. His eyes drifted back to Vaan and they nodded to each other. Atlas was not very intellegent, but his hunting and combat abilities were second to none in Vaan's opinion. He was strong, had good reflexes and was caring about all other hunters in his party. A natural born hunter, Vaan thought to himself, approving of these amazing traits. He looked to the right of Atlas to the middle of the other three. There stood Desia, sharpening her blade and tapping her shield on the mast. Her elegant features, showed off by the tight leather armour, were perfect for a Sword and Shield user.She looked up and grinned at him, her Commenders Dagger reflecting her refined features. Vaan nodded back. Smiling was no thing a hunter should do before a job. She was friendly, caring and had wits as sharp as a blade's edge, but was impatient and had a habit of taking unneccesary hits to try to speed things up a bit. Vaan made a mental note to keep an eye on her. Now Vaan got a shock: he looked to the right and saw his final hunting companion, but he was reading from a book! An idiot, Vaan thought to himself, and muttered something under his breath about why they needed a Librarian. The hunter, Who's name was apparently Theo, Looked up and raised an eyebrow quizzically underneath his Jaggi cap. Desia giggled from behind Vaan, and he turned sharply. Desia blushed, then got back to sharpening. Theo smirked, then his smile dropped as he read something on the book. He paled, cursed himself for carelessness and switched the order of ammo in his belt. He then twisted the scope on his medium bowgun so he didnt have to look into the sun, and colour returned to his face as he restored perfect order to his pre-hunt status. This time, it was Vaan's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Its the little things that count" Theo said to him as he noticed his peers dissaproval. Vaan grunted and stomped back into the canteen, his Jawblade catching on the handle in his haste. Chapter 1: the hunt begins The Deserted Island Vaan heard Desia's sigh of relief from the canteen. By the time he had got outside, she had slid down the riggings onto the stone pier of thier base camp. Theo laughed at her impatiance, and began to carefully head down the gangplank, followed closely by Atlas. Vaan took Desia's approach and then ran straight for the supply box. Atlas took the torch and declared he was going mining, Theo took all the ammo, arranging it while checking his notes in his book, and Vaan and Desia each took 2 mini whetstones. Apart from this, and some reluctance by Vaan to leave any supplies for Theo, the supplies were shared evenly. Atlas left on his own little hunt for Machalite ore and Earth crystals, and after a brief moment of eating rations and Theo loading up, they stepped out into Area 2. The veiw left the three hunters stunned. The sheer cliff faces ran up nearby and shallow, crystal rivers ran along the grassy ground. If you didn't know about the monster problems, you'd wonder why it was called the "Deserted island." Desia took the least time admiring the view, and headed off to Area 5 after about 10 seconds, the other two following her lead. There were no visible monsters here or in Area 6, but in the centre of the latter, Vaan drew his blade and signelled to the group to stop moving. "What's here?" Theo whispered, while Desia whistled to herself and spun her sword. But Vaan didn't answer, instead putting his finger to his lips and tapping his ear, which even Desia understood as "be quiet and listen." At first, Theo and Desia couldn't hear anything, but eventually they began to hear a heavy breathing nearby. Muffled but hungry, and anxious but excited. And then the smell... it was of rotting meat and flesh, and of Aptanoth blood. Desia stopped whistling and spinning her sword, and gripped her shield tightly. Theo gagged on the smell. Vaan tensed his muscles, ready to strike. The smell and sound almost seemed to be getting closer... The Carnivores It was a tiny shuffle, but that was enough. Vaan swung his blade behind his back and turned to find a small carnivore's severed head an inch from his neck, dropping away. Even Vaan's studies had shown this creature. It was a Jaggi, the males too young to be a Great Jaggi, and with a similair frill. Then everything began at once. Jaggi spilled out of the gaping, mouth like holes in the rock walls, stumbling in their bloodthirsty frenzy. Jaggia, the females which appeared to be bigger Jaggi with no frill, got up from their stationary poisitions and stalked down the rocks, eyeing up the hunters. But it wasn't just the carnivores who started their attack. Desia, with a grin wide on her face, slipped a flash bomb out of her back pocket, gently flinging it into the air in the same fluid, well practised motion. In the second before it went off, it had fallen back down to the Jaggi's eyeline. The blinding flash was very effective, stunning the majority of the Jaggi. Theo made the first move, dashing up the most hole-free rock face and loading his gun with Peirce S Lvl 1. Vaan began to admire this, then remembered him reading and to clear any thought of admaration or otherwise out of his head, began hia assault with a sweeping slash which knocked 3 Jaggi off their feet. In the 30 seconds the flash went on, Vaan finished off the wounded three Jaggi, used a well placed charge slash to take out a Jaggia and another Jaggi, and took down 8 more Jaggi with other attacks. Desia took down 4 Jaggia with sword swings and killed another two by smashing in their heads with her sheild (Vaan noted the ferocity with which she attacked the females, but didn't dare point it out). Theo used a round of 3 peirce shots, slicing up 4 Jaggi with the aid of his gem-assisted attack up (M). The next round he loaded was from his seemingly limitless stock of Normal S Lvl 1, which his bowgun conveniently rapid fired. He got a round of 6 off during the flash, taking down 10 Jaggi and 2 Jaggia, a very impressive sum. Now that the flash was over, things got harder. Vaan weaved his way through the Jaggi, occasionly having to gaurd against an unseen threat, into a more spacey area where he could better swing his Jawblade. Desia kept going for the Jaggia. She circled them, waiting for them to make a move, and when one of them lunged at her, she rolled round it and struck up from underneath. This killed it, but left her back to the other 3, which all lunged. Desia turned and tried to sheild, closing her eyes to brace herself. However. she only got hit by a small, strong hit from somewhere else. When she next opened her eyes, she saw 3 dying Jaggia embedded with Pellet S Lvl 2. Now Vaan had room, he was developing. He did an arcing swing, knocking a Jaggi back into another one and them both falling. He did a sword slap to his right, hitting a Jaggi which was heading for a reloading Theo. He swung his blade in a ring, killing a Jaggia but getting it impaled in a large boulder.While he struggled to get his jagged blade unstuck, a Jaggia hit him down. Vaan rolled to his feet, just in time to be knocked down again by a stumbling Desia. "Oops." she groaned, and neither could gather the energy to get up. This was when there was a throaty call. All the Jaggi and Jaggia froze, then marched reluctantly back into the holes. Vaan got up and got his blade out with Desia's help, Theo using recover shots on both of the Blademasters. He then came down his safe slope and muttered "that was a Great Jaggi. Do not make a sound. It may think were dead." They waited in silence for a minute, till Desia screamed, cutting the quiet like a sharp knife. She pointed to the largest cave mouth, and Vaan and Theo both jumped when they saw the eery yellow eyes inside. With a growl, the Great Jaggi emerged. Its head appeared first, small and reptilian with sharp teeth and beady eyes. A large, red and grey frill circled its head, giving it an impressive air. Then its body came out, with tiny arms and hands tipped with larger claws. Its legs were muscly, strong and tipped with the same type of talons. Its tail, finnally, had small spikes jutting out, which looked painful and sharp. No wonder it was treated as the biggest test for a rookie. Every element of it shouted trouble. Theo coughed and began to explain their situation. "It wants to have a terratorial dispute." He began. "We entered its area, so we must show we deserve it. This fight will be one-on-one, with no interference by either side. In theory. If either party gets any outside support in the fight, the other party can call their support as well. And that's the last thing we want as he can summon his entire pack of Jaggi and Jaggia. So now we just choose who should fight for us." Vaan and the Great Jaggi grunted, showing their impatiance. This made Theo laugh and list the similarities to Desia. This annoyed Vaan, who stepped forward, his Great Sword drawn and muscles tense. Desia looked aggravated at Vaan's ignorance, as she obviously thought she'd be better, and looked at Theo for support. He shrugged and admitted that he'd have voted for Vaan anyway. This made Desia fume even more for a second, then she got control. Vaan and the Great Jaggi circled each other, hissing and trying to intimadate the other. Their circles were getting smaller. "This," Desia cooed to herself, "is where things get really interesting..." The Showdown Vaan stopped circling, and his oposition slowed. They were striking length away, and still getting closer. And then, in a display of ferocious power, the Great Jaggi pounced, but Vaan was ready. He rolled underneath it, slapping its underbelly with his sword as he went, and using the moment after the attack to begin a charged slash. The attack hit at level 3, but Vaan new he wasn't getting anymore luck when the creature turned to face him with a feral intellegence in its eye. The Great Jaggi pounced again, and Vaan tried the same manouvere. A foolish move. He felt its claws grip his blade while he was still underneath. Vaan was stopped mid roll, dragged along the stones. The beast's counter strike was two swipes of jagged claws across Vaan's chest. The hunter lashed out and knocked the beast off with his feet, proceeding to gulp down a first aid med. Despite his injury, Vaan was smiling. "I love a challenge." He muttered as he wiped blood of his mail. Then it was back into the fray. The Great Jaggi leaped back, and Vaan advanced, oblivious to it's subtle movement of its hips. An instant before the hunters running strike landed, the Great Jaggi swept him of his feet with a cruel body-check. Vaan flew and smacked into a rock face. But all the encouragement he needed was the snickering of the Jaggi in the caves. Vaan didn't like being laughed at. He kicked off the rock wall while the beast savoured its masterful handling of the battle. The hunter raised his Jawblade and smashed it down onto the beasts head, breaking the frill. While the Great Jaggi stumbled under the impact, Vaan sword-slapped its head and subdued it. He followed this up with 2 level 3 charge slashes before the beast regained conciousness. Obviously irratated by this turning of the tables, the Great Jaggi started puffing smoke, a condition often reffered to as "Rage mode". It showed its newfound strength instantly by curling its tail in a spin, slapping Vaan and making him stumble. The beast seized this moment with another hip check, but the hunter wasn't tricked the same way twice. Just before the slam connected, Vaan dashed round the beast and struck its tail. Conveniently, the creature flinched, so Vaan did a sweeping strike and used the follow through to reach its head, delivering a swift but mighty sword slap to the face before rolling back. Unfortunately, Vaan took a little too long. By the time he got back up, he was being lunged on by the beast. He was pinned to the ground. The beast swiped Vaan's right hand, and he screamed, dropping the Jawblade. He was face to face with the monster, it's smoky breath blurring his vision and somehow making the wolf like yellow eyes all the more intimadating. There was nothing he could do, so he defiantly spat in the face of the monster to hide his fear. Apparently, it didn't like this. The Great Jaggi reared it's now smashed and scratched frilly face into the air and let out an eery cry. The time for honour was over. The one-on-one fight had ended, but the Great Jaggi was defient to finish Vaan, the first hunter to come this close to intimadating it. He sighed as he watched Desia and Theo become overun by Jaggi and Jaggia. They couldn't help him. But this was his fault. He had been overconfident and would now pay for it. But he'd come close; the beast's scarred and cracked face and frill showed that. This made him smile. "The last smile i'll ever make." Vaan sighed to himself. That was when he saw the hammer above his head... Endgame This was Vaan's one criticism of Atlas; he didn't really think before attacking. The hammer was rocketing down not only towards the Great Jaggi's head, but also his. Fortunately, the Great Jaggi also noticed the hammer, and was distracted, allowing Vaan to get away. He kicked for a threshold, and, finding a small rock, used his powerful legs to pull himself under the Great Jaggi. He pulled himself up and sprinted for his Jawblade, which had been knocked away by the impact of Atlas' super pound, and picked it up. It felt comforting in his grip. Atlas had been tangling with the Great Jaggi, and was mid - golf swing when Vaan turned to face them. The flat side of his Hammer smashed into the Great Jaggi's jaw and knocked it over with a heaving crash. Inspired by this, Desia used her situation to her advantage. She dodged a lunging Jaggia and kicked it further, making it crash into 3 jaggi. Now she had given herself some room, sword swipes were flying in all directions in a frenzied effort to clear the surrounding horde. Desia broke out of the pack and raced up the stone ledges. She had an idea.Theo slipped through one of the openings Desia had created and loaded up a clip of Normal Lvl 2. Vaan and Atlas, deciding the smaller monsters could be left to the other two hunters, advanced on the main beast, which was clambering to its feet. Atlas had been charging up a windup smash, and sprinted forwards, raising his hammer above his head. Unfortunately, before he could smash his Hammer down with all his might on the beasts head, it got its footing and circled round Atlas. But that was his intention. Vaan unleashed his level 3 charge slash and cut the beasts back, made it stumble forwards until its head was under the original hammer pound, and the blunt impact on its cranium knocked it unconcious. While Atlas kept comboing on its exposed head, Vaan charged his powerful strikes and Theo unloaded his Normal Lvl 2 clips on the beast. The beast woke and was, understandably, enraged. It intercepted Vaan during his charge with a tail slap to the stomach, stunning him, and followed this through to avoid a hammer smash and Theo's shot, which instead hit Atlas, who was stumbling under the momentum of his evaded strike. It took its chance and hipchecked the two vulnerable Blademasters, throwing all its weight behind a hit. They were slammed into a wall. Theo quickly distracted the beast from the eisier targets by embedding Exhaust shots into its side in an attempt to leave it open, but the monster ignored him. It was stalking towards them with a hungry look in its eyes. It was over. Atlas and Vaan couldn't even get up, and Theo was preparing a Farcaster. The beast paused to raise its head, and let out a triumphant roar. A fatal error. Something glinted in the beasts eye. It was from above, but not the sun. Vaan looked up, and saw Desia leap off the top of the rocky ledges. In the few seconds after the jump and before the collision, she put her sword beneath her and all her weight onto the blade. The Great Jaggi stopped roaring. Desia hit the beast and her blade peirced its head between the eyes. It was over. Desia turned and grinned to the others, who were still astonished by the manouvere, then ran over to carve its carcass. Theo joined her seconds later, and then Vaan and Atlas limped over. "That was too close." Vaan panted, spitting a clot of blood onto the ground. As Vaan lay on the Argosy bed and drinking potions, healing up, pain was replaced by pride. He had killed his first real test, and now he couldn't wait to see what happened in Loc Lac... Category:Blog posts